1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protection structure for a motor vehicle and more particularly to a knee guard structure for protecting knees of an occupant at the event of a collision.
2. Prior Art
Generally, when a vehicle has a collision, an occupant is thrown forwardly. Particularly, when a safety belt or an air bag holds the upper part of the occupant's body, the lower part of the body is thrown under an instrument panel. In such a situation, the knee guard structure supports the knees of the occupant to prevent the occupant from getting in under the instrument panel. An example of the knee guard structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Toku-Kai-Hei 7-2035.
In the disclosure, the knee guard is provided at the lower part of the instrument panel so as to be located opposite to the knees of an occupant seated. On the passenger side, there is provided a glove box at the lower part of the instrument panel. A knee guard bracket is disposed on both ends of the glove box, respectively and a connecting member interconnects between both brackets. At the event of an impact, the knees of the passenger has a contact with a lid of the glove box and an impact load is inputted to the left and right knee guard brackets through the lid.
When the vehicle has a head-on collision, the knees of the passenger do not always abut against the knee guard orthogonally. Especially, at the event of an offset collision or an oblique collision, the knees abut against the knee guard partially or in the diagonal direction. According to the prior art, when the knees of the passenger abut against the left and right brackets through the lid of the glove box, since these brackets are disposed apart from each other, it is difficult to transfer the impact load received from the lid of the glove box uniformly to the brackets. That is, an impact energy is difficult to be absorbed efficiently.